Bandages

Description: Rainbow Dash finds you after you got beat up.

Twilight was still not in front of campus. No one was. I didn’t see Fluttershy. Or the bullies. Thank god. I hoped no one would see me. Part of me wished that I’d never be seen by anyone again.

I watched my vision in the one eye blur. The soreness felt worse than the initial beating.

There was nothing to do now…but go home, nurse my wounds, try to recover. I contemplated calling in sick tomorrow.

As I limped forward, I heard a rapid scattering of soft footsteps behind me. I rolled my eyes.

“Great. Just what I need…” I said as Rainbow Dash flew in at top speed, stopping right beside me. Gravel sprang up from her screeching heels.

I didn’t smile. But she did. I had yet to see her smile that brightly.

“Nice shiner." She said. "Did you go ten rounds with a baseball bat or something?”

“I’m not a great mood. Can you go…anywhere else?”

"I could.” She balanced on the tips of her sneakers to get a better look at me. Still with that smile.

“Well, go then.”

“Did you hit them back?”

“…I didn’t get a chance.”

“That sucks. Next time.”

“Seriously, just go away. I don’t want any more-”

“Fluttershy saw what happened.” Rainbow Dash pulled a drawstring backpack off her shoulders. “She told me what you did.” She pulled out a travel-sized first-aid kit. And kept on smiling. “That was pretty awesome. Sit down.”

Not saying anything (not knowing what to say), I did I was told and sat myself on the curb. My stomach stung.

Rainbow nestled herself between my open legs, a bit too close for my tastes. Slightly hunched and legs crossed over one another, she looked unimposing…which was very different from her usual self.

She grabbed the tips of my fingers and pulled my bleeding wound towards her. "Wicked scrape. It may leave a scar! Then you can show it off.”

‘I didn’t-”

“You can make up a story of how you got it. That’s half the fun.” She laughed. Not letting me speak, she took out some disinfectant and squeeze my fingers. "This is gonna pinch.”

“Hey, wait a second.” I felt and heard the clear liquid sizzle as it fell on my scrape. “OOOWWW! Jesus!”

“That hurts?”

“Yeah it freaking hurts!”

“Weird how the after-wounds hurt more than the actual hit, right?”

"Yeah…I thought the same thing. Ahh, god! ”

Happy as a clam, she took out some gauze bandages next and began dressing my injuries. Without my permission. With no regard for my personal space either! Her face was inches from mine as she worked. I felt her breath on me.

Yet I did not resist.

She was surprisingly gentle.

“You can dress wounds?”

“Yeah. I learned when I took karate.”

“Rea-OW! Really?” She tore the bandaged in half with her teeth, then tied it off and slid the knot under my palm. The dressing was snug but not tight, and the pressure slowed down my bleeding down to a crawl.

“That’ll need to be changed tomorrow morning. It’s pretty bad man.” She scratched the back of her head. And kept on smiling. Like the Cheshire-Cat. It got on my nerves, especially since the myriad of insults she spat at me earlier today was still fresh in my memory.

Not slowing down, my ‘nurse’ took out a few a few band-aids next.

“Hold still.” She warned.

“Why?” She moved in close to my face again and placed a Band-Aid on my forehead. Her tongue stuck out as she focused on getting the Band-Aid juuust right. Her nose touches mine once or twice a she did. “I can do that myself!”

“Chill out Humpty. Let me put you back together again.”

“But-”

She pulled away before I could say more, and reassembled the kit lightning fast.

I only just met Rainbow Dash a few days ago and knew I didn’t get to see her good side during the choice encounters, but those meetings had I already given me an idea of what she was like. Certain adjectives popped into my mind…

Brazen. Arrogant. Rude.

‘Motherly’ was not on that list. Nor was ‘Gentle’ or ‘Nurturing’ or ‘Caring’.

Or ‘Humane’.

It’s strange how quickly a black eye can change what you see.

“So what did you say to them?” She asked curiously. I merely looked away, embarrassed to even rethink it. “Come on. You must have made them pretty mad if you got beat up that badly. What’d you say?”

“…I said they were pathetic for picking on a helpless girl.”

“Yeah?” I nodded. “Right to their faces?” I nodded again.

“But, they beat me in the end so it’s not worth bragging.”

“No, no, no, no! Dude, you beat them.”

“Huh?”

"They wouldn’t have gotten mad if you said things that were untrue. People only get mad at things that bother them. They broke your skin, but you got under theirs.” The insightfulness of that idea wasn’t as astonishing as was the fact that Rainbow Dash said it. I didn’t think jocks could generate complex thoughts.

“So…about the eye" Rainbow Dash pulled a small ice pack from her drawstring, cracked it, and threw it to me. I fumbled it and dropped it. "“Nice catch.”

“You carry these with you?” I asked.

"They help after a good workout. You can have that one. It’s disposable. And get some headache medicine. You’ll never get to sleep tonight without it.”

"Y-yeah. Okay.” I grumbled and put the pack over my eyes. It soothed my burn in seconds.

Rainbow Dash scooted next to me, leaning on her dirty palms. Her arm touched mine. She smiled when I looked at her, to a point of corniness. I artlessly smiled back.

She hated me earlier today. She called me a loser. Now…the way she sat, how she looked at me, with no aggression or judgment, suddenly eager to treat me with an uncomfortable amount of kindness…

...I did not like it.

“What else did they break?” She looked up at me. Even sitting down, she was small next to me.

"Well, nothing is broken. I’m just…not in a great mood.”

“Yeah. I feel ya.” We went silent. Rainbow Dash kicked a pebble away from her. I watched it skip across the parking lot.

“Uh…so…” She waited for me to say something. “…is Fluttershy okay?”

“Yep. She’s recovers from these things fast. Nothing some alone time with her…animal friends won’t fix.”

“Where is she?”

“Back in her room.”

And another long, painful silence passed.

My mind bounced with anxiousness as I tried to find a conversation topic.

“You took karate?” I say quickly.

“I sure did. Made it all the way to second degree black belt baby. Good times!” She jumped up and took a stance and threw a few fists as she vaguely described what it was like. “I was all like POW! POW! BOOM! And the guy in front of me is on the floor. Do that about ninety-thousand times and they give you a belt.”

“Are you still doing it?”

“Nah. I quit. It got boring.”

“Oh, punching people got boring? I thought jocks loooved throwing punches.”

“We do. Your face is proof of that.” She snickered. I didn’t like that comeback, but had to give her credit for thinking of it on the spot. “It got boring cause after a while the other people in class stopped sparing with me.”

“You were that good that people just stopped trying to beat you?”

“Honestly?.No, I wasn’t that good. I just didn’t give up. When I got knocked down, I got back up. And kept getting back up until there was nothing left for me to prove.”

Aliens. That must have been it! The real Rainbow Dash had been snatched up to a UFO and replaced by a clone with manners and interesting conversation topics.

I liked this Rainbow Dash a lot more than the one I met on my first day. She bragged without bragging, was confident now without being cocky.

“Are you going to do that with the track team?

"Do what?”

“Leave when you get bored.”

"Hmmm...."She rubbed her chin. “…I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of runner’s-high. But I said that about karate, so who knows?” She sat back down next to me. Too close again. “There is a huge inter-county race coming up in spring. When I inevitably get first place in every event, maybe I’ll try a different sport.”

She put on a goofy grin again, one that would look more fitting on a child half her age.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better than I felt ten minutes ago.”

“That’s a start. But seriously, headache medicine. Something with ibuprofen in it. It’ll keep the swelling under control.”

“Thanks,. but…why are-”

“Are you going snitch? Your eye is gonna turning black and they have a reputation. You could get them suspended easily if you wanted to.”

“Um…I’m not sure. I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Wanna go beat em up? I’ll hold him and you hit them whilst quoting your favorite movie. It’ll be fun.”

“I think I had enough violence for one day.”

“If you say so.” She shrugged. “But are you going to snitch?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not? Nerds snitch all the time.” She didn’t sound mean when she said that. I don’t think she was trying to insult me by being blunt, or insults nerds as whole either. Maybe she was just a little dumb? She was a jock after all. Not her fault her ego was bigger than her brain.

“I guess because…it’s more important that Fluttershy is okay. If those guys keep beating me up, then they’ll leave Fluttershy alone. If I tell on them, they’ll know not to come after me again but then they will go right back to Fluttershy.”

Rainbow’s face lit up.

“Awesome! The nerds I know would have ratted in a second.”

“Why are you doing this?” I took the role of being the blunt one. Her smile vanished and she suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

“Uh…hehe, doing what?”

“Acting all friendly. You don’t even like me.”

“Who told you that?”

“You did. Like three hours ago.” She paused.

“…that was before.”

“Before what?!" I raised my voice a little. She responded by talking louder.

“Before you took a beating for a friend, okay! My friend. And she’s your friend too!”

“But WE are not friends. Fluttershy is a mutual friend.”

"So what?! You’ve got a busted-up-everything because you care about a mutual friend. That says who you are! You’re loyal.”

“Maybe I am, but so what? Dogs are loyal too.”

“I like dogs! And loyalty means everything! It can’t be replaced, so it is more valuable than money! And ya know what else? Life and loyalty are two things you can’t get back when they are lost, so loyalty is as important as being alive. And it makes you stronger. I don’t care what the critics will tell you, being loyal does not make you weak." Her passion rose up. She was almost yelling, but not quiet. "You got bruised so someone else didn’t have to. You bled because someone else was already hurting. Loyalty may not matter to some people, but it matters to me. And it definitely matters to people when they need it.”

She crossed her arms and huffed, bracing herself, like she was ready to argue with me if I told her she was wrong, like she was expecting it even.

Or perhaps she was bracing herself in case I decided to walk away and never speak to her again, giving me a grand performance in case it was her last one.

“…so…you’re not mad at me?”

“…seriously?”

“I’m just checking.”

“…hahaha! You know ___, you’re not completely hopeless.” She jumped up and extended her hand to me to help me on my feet. “You should probably go home and recoup.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I know.” She pulled me to my feet gently. Her small hand fit easily into my palm, and yet still her fingers were weirdly strong. “You gonna be in class tomorrow?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do it man. Show up. Let’em know they didn’t bother you. And show off the scars. Girls like scars. It gives off that bad-boy vibe.” She patted my shoulder. "I’ll see ya.”

Then she ran off like she had other stuff to do. She probably did.

Rainbow inappropriately levels of friendliness around me was probably a good sign.

But she was far away by the time I turned my head, so I didn’t get a chance to ask if she was insane or not.

Author's Note

Protag: “Oh, punching people got boring? I thought jocks loooved throwing punches.”

Rainbow Dash: “We do. Your face is proof of that.”

Zing, mutha fucka!